Cable Burn In

+1 elizabeth, I totally agree although I do use my Audiodharna cable cooker since I have one.

I have some very pertinent experience with this issue.  My long-time balanced interconnects  (Clear Day) on the link between my Oppo/ModWright 105 CD/SACD player and Aesthetix Calypso linestage have served me well without complaint over the last 3-4 years. Great cables.

Recently a bat-eared audiobuddy suggested I try Duelund 20g ICs, also balanced, and since they were reasonably priced ($175), I figured, why not.  When first inserted in my system they were awful -- flat, closed-in, meh in every respect. Again, the prescribed break-in (200 hours) sounded incredible to me.  Fortunately I have an Audiodharma Cable Cooker to speed the break-in process.

So I gave the Duelunds several days on the cooker and compared them again to the Clear Days.  Better, but no cigar.  It took more days (I lost count), but eventually the Duelunds won the sonic battle and have now replaced the Clear Days.  Note that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the Clear Days and a number of other ICs haven't come close to the way THEY sound.  But the Duelunds are now top dog -- sweet.open, clear, musical --and I haven't an objective clue as to why.  Not really.

One thing sure:  The Audiodharma Cable Cooker is an incredible product, as anyone who owns one will likely attest

Keep listening to your system, you'll notice a difference when they "burn-in." 

Whenever i'm bored (it's raining and i can't fish and my wife's sleeping so i can't play the music) i enjoy reading this forum.  Yes, many of the posters are predictable but also make legitimate arguments.  What i believe is that music is almost a purely emotional experience and, therefore, it's impossible to argue with someone who says they hear something, even though it can't be measured--it might not be their ears that are "hearing" it.  Could be just an emotional response. After all we can't measure love but we are reasonably certain it exists because we "feel" it.  That said i choose to fall in the measuring camp when it comes to high end audio claims and i may tend to disbelieve if it can't be measured.  What i also wonder from N80's original post is what would motivate the manufacturer to state the break-in period and how did they know it was 175 hours?  Why not 25 hours or even 750 hours?  It's a legitimate question to ask them how they determined it.  Is it possible their motive is to add further scientific-sounding goop in order to make us believe even more strongly that the cables are really going to make a difference? Or does it leave them an "out" to say we didn't break them in properly if we don't hear a difference ?  And if i don't play my system for a few months (as happens when we come to the lake for summer) do the dielectric molecules drift back into a random orientation or are they permanently "aligned" after break-in?  It all sounds like snake oil to me but the fun part of being an audiophile is that chasing perfect sound is never-ending and we're free to believe, feel and hear what we want--and nobody's going to change Geoff"s mind regardless of the merit and logic of their arguments because he says he "hears" it or "feels" it and we can't tell him it's all in his imagination.  If he imagines he sees ghosts then he does!  Thanks to N80, Prof, jea48, Shadorne and Geoff for furnishing high-end education, argument and entertainment on a rainy day.  Luckily i'm a long, long way from a high end audio store...